Getting Good Grades

Getting good grades in college these days is supposed to be easier than ever. But there are signs of grade deflation in the future. Princeton announced in spring 2005 that it planned to limit the number of A's awarded in any course to 35 percent of all grades, down from the old 50 percent rate in some courses. Other schools are talking tough about grades. Even in grade-inflated times, many students find that success in this part of the learning process is a mystery.

What is the secret? Experts say good time management, careful selection of courses, avoiding wasted effort and inquiring into what the professor really wants. Here are 10 ways to get college A's, as suggested by professors and former students who consider grade-grubbing an unfortunate label for the honorable effort to master the material. They say many of these methods will also work in a growing number of high school classes offered in the Washington region that aim for college-level rigor.

1. Go to class and take notes yourself.

2. Don't major in engineering.

3. Make a big event out of your most-feared academic tasks.

4. Speak to your professors frequently.

5. Don't shy from courses with lots of papers.

6. Study in an isolated place as early in the day as you can, and do a five- to 10-minute break every hour.

7. Use section meetings for more than getting to know attractive classmates.

8. Don't do all of your reading. This is the most shocking piece of advice. There are not enough hours in the day to cover all the reading that professors assign. Instead, focus on the reading that appears to be most important -- material written by sources the professor mentions often, material that makes an argument (crucial for exams) and material that can clear up points you find confusing in the lectures.

9. Before you start work on a paper, do the analysis in your head.

10. Let experts look at drafts of a major paper.